A Taiwanese girl who is now living in Montreal writes about what she discovered and experienced in this amazing city.

11 January, 2012

My first visit to the doctor

At midnight, while I was sleeping, I was suddenly waken up by a strong discomfort in my stomach. Because of that I couldn't sleep at all. I waited until the sun came up. I looked into the student manual and found a hospital which was near my home stay. I took down some vocabulary words in English on a note, and grabbed my electronic dictionary and passport with me.

I couldn't put up with the pain in my stomach. Each step I took always made the pain worse, therefore I had to walk as slow as I could. After I filled out the form in the hospital, I finally saw a doctor. It was hard work for the doctor and for me as well. I couldn't understand the questions that the doctor asked and he couldn't determine what exactly my problem was. Luckily I had brought my electronic dictionary, so we used it to communicate. However, the doctor still was not sure what the problem was with my stomach. He told me to take an X-ray. I waited for three hours to do it. After that, I refused to do more medical checks because I had neither time nor money, so I asked the doctor to give me the pills and I paid a total of $270 in the end.

For about a week, I've survived only on water and white bread, and the pain was so strong I couldn't stand straight...